Mbukushu language

Mbukushu
Thimbukushu
Native toNamibia, Angola, Botswana, Zambia
RegionKavango East
Native speakers
95,000 (2020)[1]
Language codes
ISO 639-3mhw
Glottologmbuk1240
K.333[1][2]

Mbukushu or Thimbukushu is a Bantu language spoken by 45,000 people along the Kavango East Region in Namibia, where it is a national language, and in Botswana, Angola and Zambia.

In 2022 it was selected among a variety of Mother Tongue languages to be taught in Botswana Primary Schools in the year 2023.

Mbukushu is one of several Bantu languages of the Kavango which have click consonants; Mbukushu has three: tenuis c, voiced gc, and nasalized nc, as well as prenasalized ngc, which vary between speakers as dental, palatal, and postalveolar.[3] It also has a nasal glottal approximant.

Phonology

Consonants

Labial Dental Alveolar Post-alv./
Palatal 		Velar Glottal
Click voiceless ᵏǀ
voiced ᶢǀ
prenasal vl. ᵑǀᵏ
prenasal vd. ᵑǀᶢ
Nasal m n ɲ ŋ
Plosive/
Affricate 		voiceless p t̪ t tʃ k
voiced b d dʒ ɡ
prenasal ᵐb ⁿd̪ ⁿd ⁿdʒ ᵑɡ
Fricative voiceless f θ (s) ʃ h
voiced v ð (z) [ʝ] ɣ
nasal ᶬv ⁿð h̃
Approximant j w
Trill r
  • Sounds /s, z/ are only heard from loanwords.
  • /j/ may also be heard as a palatal fricative [ʝ].[4]
  • Click sounds may also range to being alveolar [ᵏǃ, ᶢǃ, ᵑǃᵏ, ᵑǃᶢ] or palatal [ᵏǂ, ᶢǂ, ᵑǂᵏ, ᵑǂᶢ].[5]

Vowels

Front Central Back
High i u
Mid ɛ ɔ
Low a

References

  1. ^ a b Mbukushu at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022) Closed access icon
  2. ^ Jouni Filip Maho, 2009. New Updated Guthrie List Online
  3. ^ Nurse, Derek; Philippson, Gérard (2003). The Bantu Languages. Routledge. p. 37. ISBN 0700711341.
  4. ^ Wynne, Ronald C. (1980). English-Mbukushu dictionary. Avebury Publishing Co.
  5. ^ Fisch, Maria (1998). Thimbukushu grammar. Windhoek: Out of Africa Publ.


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